Surgical procedures are often performed using instruments attached to handpieces which are powered either electrically or pneumatically. Powered handpieces generally fall into two groups: powered surgical handpieces and powered arthroscopic/endoscopic handpieces.
Powered surgical handpieces are generally used in open surgical procedures and have bodies in the form of pistol grip or pencil grip type structures. These bodies move a variety of instruments (e.g. saws, drills, reamers, pins, wires, etc.) attachable to the bodies in order to treat tissue during a surgical procedure. Each of the instruments has a distal working end which actually performs a function (e.g. sawing, drilling, reaming, etc.) and a proximal connecting end which enables the instrument to be attached to the handpiece providing the motive force. The movements are generally in the form of oscillating, rotating, or reciprocating movements of the instruments. A variety of instruments may be directly secured to the drive motor in the body of the handpiece or a common handpiece may have a variety of attachments interposed between the body and the instrument such that the same body may, by simply changing the attachments, create a variety of motions to the instrument (e.g. oscillation, rotation, reciprocation).
One type of powered surgical handpiece includes pin drivers and wire drivers. This type of handpiece includes a pistol grip and has a cannulated shaft transversely attached to the pistol grip. The shaft has a bore extending completely through it and is adapted to receive and grip an elongated pin or wire. The bore is designed to coaxially receive a range of diameters of pins/wires. A selectively actuated chuck grips the pin/wire which can then be rotated about the axis of the bore to drive the distal tip of the pin/wire into a bore. The grip can be released to enable the handpiece to be either removed or repositioned to drive the pin/wire further into the bone.
Powered arthroscopic/endoscopic handpieces are generally used in closed surgical procedures and have bodies in the form of pencil type structures which, in the current state of the art, are generally electrically powered to operate shaver blades or burs secured to the distal end of the handpiece. These handpieces will be referred to as arthroscopic handpieces throughout this specification. The term “arthroscopic” as used herein is intended to broadly include endoscopic devices and procedures in general. Shaver blades generally include a stationary tubular outer member having a cutting window situated at its distal end and a rotatable tubular inner member also having a cutting window situated at its distal end. The inner and outer members are sometimes referred to individually and collectively as shaver blades. Either of the cutting windows may be formed in a variety of shapes and may or may not include teeth depending upon the degree of aggressiveness desired and the particular surgical procedure for which the shaver blade is designed. Rotation of the inner member within the outer member causes the resection of any tissue which penetrates into the lumen of the inner member as it rotates. The lumen of the inner member is at its proximal end attached to a vacuum in order to aspirate the resected tissue as well as irrigation fluid and other tissue which may be at the surgical site. Powered arthroscopic handpieces are generally used during arthroscopic procedures in which the surgical site is commonly inflated with fluid in order to provide distention and visibility to imaging instruments also at the surgical site. It will also be understood that an arthroscopic handpiece, modified in accordance with the teachings of this invention, could also be used in open surgical procedures.
It is often necessary to use a powered surgical handpiece in the same procedure as an arthroscopic handpiece, thus requiring two separate powered handpieces to be prepared and presented for use.